


Bleeting Heart

by staymagical



Series: Keithtober 2020 [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Sheep, Sheep Herder Keith, Sheep Herding, Traveler Lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:13:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26845693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/staymagical/pseuds/staymagical
Summary: Keith enjoys a solitary life nestled in a lush green gap in the mountains with naught but his farmhouse, his sheep, and his dogs for company. He's perfectly content and, no matter what Shiro may say to the contrary, he is most certainly not lonely.Truly, he isn't.Or so he thought until a handsome stranger by the name of Lance stumbles into his yard and turns his peaceful life upside down.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: Keithtober 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1958269
Comments: 10
Kudos: 70





	Bleeting Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Ashwii's Keithtober Day 5: Kosmo
> 
> Hey, I'm alive and writing and doing Keithtober! Yay. Well, a more relaxed prompt list created by the lovely [ashwii.art](https://www.instagram.com/ashwii.art/) on Instagram, featuring prompts only every other day.
> 
> So here's an idea that been brewing in my head for a year now and I finally decided to just write it. Or at least, the beginning of it. Because like all my short little fics, the plot grows further in my head than what I originally plan to put down, but for now, I'll just leave this piece as is.

Keith lets out a short high whistle as he crests the top of the small mountainside hill behind his farmhouse. 

Beside him, Kosmo trots along, his keen eyes watching as Red takes off at a wide curving sprint across the uneven ground to circle the flock. But he loses interest soon enough, turning his attention back to Keith and the bag of treats he keeps at his waist.

They’re unnecessary, truly, but Keith still enjoys rewarding his partners every now and then. He likes to think it helps maintain the mutual respect between them and remind them he still cares and loves them despite their working relationship.

Even if Kosmo likes to take advantage of that little fact.

“Stop that,” Keith chides as Kosmo noses at his hip, his weight nearly enough to send Keith stumbling. With a playful curl to his lips, Keith levels a stern finger at him. “This is harassment. Don’t make me report you to HR.”

Kosmo remains unperturbed, staring up at him with sharp blue eyes and giving Keith’s hip another nudge and a derisive snort. 

“You need to start pulling your weight around here,” Keith teases even as he pulls open the treat bag and offers a piece of dried meat up. Kosmo takes it happily, barely chewing before its gone and he’s back to searching for more. Keith shoves his face away with a fond smile and gestures toward the herd. “No, no more. Go on now. Get.”

With one last snort, Kosmo obeys the command and takes off to curve his way around the white dots of sheep littering the left side of the uneven mountaintop. On the right, Red is already scaling around to flank a few stragglers and Keith gives two short perfunctory whistles to bring her around further and push the flock toward the center into the bottleneck in the rocky field. He whistles again, the pitch a note lower and drawn just a hair longer for Kosmo’s command, steering him to and fro as the sheep are slowly herded together. 

Back and forth he commands the two dogs, working in sync to group the herd and bring them toward him and the steep edge of the mountainside. As they get closer, Keith steps to the side onto his usual ledge to better oversee his dogs and switches to verbal commands. Red and Kosmo respond without hesitation, snaking around and behind to keep the sheep in line as they funnel down the mountainside path to the fenced field below. 

A flash of blue movement catches Keith’s eye as he looks down at his farmhouse and he does a double-take. 

There’s a man in the field standing just outside the back door of Keith’s house, hand shielding his eyes from the waning sun despite the cloudy day, face tilted up in Keith’s direction. From this distance, Keith can’t make out his features but he’s familiar enough with the people of the nearest town for the man to be unrecognizable. 

Despite what Shiro says, Keith’s not a total recluse. Not for lack of trying though.

Keith takes his time coming down the steep mountainside, watching his footing as he barks final commands to Kosmo and Red and studiously ignores the heat of the stranger’s gaze. Shiro is the only person Keith tolerates showing up unannounced and Hunk on occasion if he’s baring baked goods. But everyone else knows better. 

So why is there a stranger standing in his yard? Confusion quickly ignites into irritation, anger bubbling in his gut and deepening his frown.

With the sheep safely herded into the field, Keith jumps the last few feet down the mountainside and into his fenced field, closing the gate behind him before striding toward the stranger. 

“Sit down,” Keith commands as he passes Kosmo and the dog immediately lays in watch over the herd. 

Red the traitor, is over by the stranger, sniffing at a proffered hand and Keith whistles with three short bursts to get her back on task. The stranger’s head shoots up at the noise and a pair of brilliant blue eyes lock onto Keith, windswept chestnut locks brushing across a tanned forehead.

Anger bursts hot and heavy in Keith’s throat as his heart stutters in his breast, breath stolen from his lungs. 

The man smiles as Keith approaches, a blinding toothy thing that only deepens Keith’s frown despite or perhaps in spite of the flutter it ignites in his stomach. A tanned hand extends toward him in greeting. “You must be Keith.”

He’s got a foreign accent, American perhaps, or possibly Canadian, Keith isn’t entirely sure but he glares at the man all the same. “What are you doing on my property?”

“Oh sorry,” the man says, a blush staining his cheeks. Keith grits his teeth, ignoring the offered hand until the man pulls it away to rub against the back of his neck. “I’m Lance. Your brother, Shiro said you have a room for rent?”

Of fucking course he did.

Blue eyes, sharp features, devastatingly handsome, and young enough to be just around Keith’s age, Lance has Shiro’s meddling written all over him. Hell, he’d be surprised if Shiro hadn’t sniffed him out the second he stepped foot in their small town. Or perhaps kidnapped him to drop at Keith’s stoop. 

Keith wouldn’t put it past him.

Can’t leave well enough alone no matter how many times Keith demands, pleads, or threatens him to. He’s worried, Keith gets it, but he has no reason to be. Keith enjoys his solitude, the peace of the countryside with nothing but his dogs and his sheep to keep him company. He doesn’t need nor want a companion.

He’s perfectly content as he is. 

“No,” Keith says, pushing passed the stranger and throwing open his back door with more force than necessary. “Try Shay’s back in town.”

Lance’s face falls into shock, brow drawn. He stays rooted where he is, the grasses at his feet leaving wet streaks along the canvas of his trainers, ignoring Keith’s clear indication that he should take his leave. Now, preferably. 

Before the pity that tastes oddly like interest in the back of Keith’s throat makes him do something he might regret.

“Back in town?” Lance parrots. Behind him, one of the sheep answers his question with a disgruntled bleet. Keith silently agrees. “But I came all this way. Your brother drove me out here from town ten minutes away.”

Keith shrugs, opening the door wider and gesturing for Lance to leave the way he came. “That’s your mistake.”

And Keith was letting his guard down after Shiro’s last attempt at setting him up. That and leaving his door unlocked like a fool. 

But this, this is a whole new level of meddling, even for Shiro.

“He said you had a room!” Lance’s voice rises an octave higher, throwing up his arms in a mix between placating and exasperated desperation. 

It’s almost endearing, watching this handsome stranger get animated. 

Almost. And if he was in any sense handsome. Which he isn’t.

Keith jerks his head toward the front door on the other side of the sitting room. “Well, he’s a terrible brother. And mistaken.”

“Please,” Lance sighs, the anger disappearing in an instant as his words turn pleading. “I just need a room, nothing more. Name your price.”

Keith despises him in that instant. Not because he stirs the pity into something tangible in Keith’s breast but because he has the audacity to stir the long-neglected butterflies in his stomach with just a look.

Shiro is absolutely a dead man, brother be damned.

“You can’t afford it,” Keith tries half-heartedly. 

Lance crosses his arms, shoulders hunching as he stares at Keith with a mixture of pleading and irritation. “Well, I can’t very well go back to town, now can I? It’s nearly dark and unless you’re willing to drive me, I have nowhere else to go.

Keith groans, rubbing a hand down his face. He doesn’t want to. He really doesn’t want to. All he wants is to be left alone, in peace with his animals and the lush narrow gap in the mountains he settled in. 

But Lance is right, he has nowhere else to go. Keith doesn’t have a car and the walk would be much too long and a foreigner like him could easily get lost when night fell completely.

“How long?” Keith asks slowly, eyeing Lance warily. 

Lance holds up his hands in a placating gesture of false promises. “Just a few days.”

Keith grits his teeth. He’d love nothing more than to shove Shiro’s meddling back in his face but Lance is turning on the charm and the puppy dog eyes and goddamnit he doesn’t even know this man but it’s having an effect on him. And he’s not heartless enough to throw a stranger in need out in the dark, no matter how handsome. 

Perhaps enduring just a scant few days of Lance’s presence will be enough to get Shiro off his back for a while. To leave him and his solitude be.

He lets out a long exasperated sigh before pointing a threatening finger at Lance’s nose. “This isn’t a bed and breakfast, you hear?” The light that ignites in Lance’s eyes is nearly as blinding as the smile splitting his face and Keith almost immediately regrets his decision. Shit, he’s in trouble. “I’ll make sure the fridge and pantry are stocked but you have to make your own food and do your own cleaning. The sheep require enough care as it is without adding another.”

Lance nods quickly. “Yeah, sure, no problem.”

“I am usually up before dawn tending to the flock and I don’t plan to quiet down so you can have a lie-in.”

“Got it, no fun, no lie in,” Lance assures with more quick short nods, brow straightening in a serious manner. But his smile doesn’t waver.

It ignites a heat in Keith’s breast, one that creeps up to settle in his cheeks. Goddamnit, he truly is in serious trouble.

“Good,” Keith says, frowning to mask his flushed cheeks. He jerks his head toward the herd and the two dogs laying patiently at the wait. Lance follows his gaze. “Oh and don’t fuck with my dogs or my sheep. They’re my livelihood.”

Lance cocks his head, glancing back at Keith with trepidation and concern. “Do you, uh, eat them?”

“This isn’t a slaughterhouse,” Keith huffs, a flash of irritation and insult stirring the annoyance in his throat. “They’re for wool until the end of their days. Then yes, they may become mutton if deemed suitable.”

“Poor babies,” Lance says, pity dimming his smile into a sympathetic downturn.

Keith snorts with amusement. “They’re fine. Spoiled brats, mainly.” 

He glances back out at the field and whistles twice, one command for each of the dogs, releasing them from their stay and steps back as they race in lazy loping gait toward him. They pause at the threshold and Keith gathers the worn towel hanging on the hook inside the house, wiping each of their paws in turn before releasing them to lounge inside. 

Then, with a final glance at Lance and a silent prayer for this to not become the biggest mistake of his life, he thumbs over his shoulder. “Come on, I’ll show you the room.”

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my Instagram for more Klance and VLD drabbles and short fics: [staymagwrites](https://www.instagram.com/staymagwrites/)


End file.
